People who spend much of their day sitting may need to move around less than we thought to counteract their sedentary lifestyle, new research shows.
We spend almost all our waking day sitting, standing, or moving. The health impact of each one of these can be complex.
While we know moving is better than sitting, what is far less clear is how much of a good thing (moving) can offset the harms of a bad thing (sitting).
That’s what we wanted to find out in our study of almost 150,000 Australian middle-aged and older adults.
What We Found
People who did no physical activity and sat for more than eight hours a day had more than twice the risk (107 percent higher) of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to people who did at least one hour of physical activity and sat less than four hours a day (the “optimal group”).But it wasn’t enough just to sit less. People who did less than 150 minutes of physical activity a week and sat less than four hours a day still had a 44 to 60 percent higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than the optimal group.
We also calculated the effects of replacing one hour of sitting with standing, walking, and moderate and vigorous physical activity.
Among people who sit a lot (more than six hours a day) replacing one hour of sitting with equal amounts of moderate physical activity like strenuous gardening and housework, but not standing, was associated with a 20 percent reduction in dying from cardiovascular disease.
What Does It All Mean?
The great news for people who sit a lot, including sedentary office workers, is that the amount of physical activity needed to offset the health risks of sitting was substantially lower than the one hour a day a previous study found.What’s the Take-Home Message?
Our study supports the idea that sitting and exercise are two sides of the same health “coin.” In other words, enough physical activity can offset the health risks of sitting.Should we worry about sitting too much? Yes, because sitting takes up valuable time we could spend moving. So too much sitting is an important part of the physical inactivity problem.
How to Widen Our Activity ‘Menu’
Not everyone has a supportive environment and the capacity to create opportunities to be active. For example, lack of time, and physical activity being low on people’s list of priorities, are the main reasons why inactive adults don’t exercise. Also, many don’t have the motivation to power through a strenuous workout when they’re juggling many other life challenges.There are no known remedies to a lack of time or low motivation. So perhaps we need to add new approaches beyond exercising and playing sport for leisure, to the “menu” of physical activity options.
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